With the help of decorator Palmer Weiss, a young San Francisco family rejuvenates a rambling 1908 Shingle Style house, endowing it with a gentle new spirit

Living Room

Living Room

From the picture windows, the San Francisco landscape looms large: the sculptural cypress trees, the gray-blue bay, the Golden Gate Bridge. Decorators never work in a vacuum, but when Palmer Weiss first visited this house, built in 1908 and perched on the edge of the Presidio, a heavily wooded former army base turned celebrated national park, she knew the surroundings would play a more prominent role than usual in her design. "Those epic views—you don't want to fight them," says the designer.

In the living room of a San Francisco house designed by Palmer Weiss, the sofa, covered in a Clarence House fabric, and the club chairs are all custom made; the cocktail tables are by Harrison-Van Horn, the 18th-century walnut chairs are Italian, the round side table is by Bunny Williams Home, and the curtains are of a fabric by Elizabeth Eakins.

Dining Room

Dining Room

The home's enviable location in Presidio Heights, a quiet neighborhood of tony Edwardian houses, was precisely what drew her clients to it in the first place. But as the parents of three girls, the couple saw even more to love inside the four-story shingled house. "We bought it from friends, and we had watched their children grow up in it over the years," says the wife. She knew the layout would be perfect for her family, with a generous eat-in kitchen on the open main floor, a downstairs den big enough for both an exercise space and a play area, and a top floor that could accommodate bedrooms for all three children. The house had also been recently renovated, so it was in pristine shape when the family moved in.

A pair of photographs by Vincent Fournier in the dining room; the chairs are by John Rosselli, and the vintage light fixture is by Boris Lacroix.